OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLED BY US NAVY SEALS
President Barack Obama announced last night that Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda & architect of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, is dead.
After almost a decade in hiding, the terrorist was killed as a result of a carefully planned US Special Forces operation authorized by President Obama with the assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Sources say the assault team, composed of 24 members of US Navy Seals "Team Six", arrived at the compound by helicopter in the early morning hours & completed their mission in 40 minutes.
Bin Laden, living in Abbottabad, 30 miles north of Pakistan's capital city, Islamabad, was shot twice, once in the chest & once in the head.
Osama bin Laden's body, after being officially identified, by making photograph comparison & DNA testing, was cleaned & buried within 24 hours of death as per Muslim custom. The burial was at sea.
Today in a ceremony at the White House, President Obama said:
"This is a good day for America. Our country kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is a better place...."*
*Permit me to add my congratulations & thanks to President Obama & all those who took part in this dangerous but successful mission.
Let us also pay tribute to all the victims of 9-11-2001.
President Obama will attend a ceremony at the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City on Thursday, May 5, 2011.
On Friday, May 6, 2011 the President & VP Joe Biden will personally thank the Navy Seals who took part in the raid as well as the members of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
May 2, 1972
FBI DIRECTOR J. EDGAR HOOVER DIES
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, died today of complications from heart disease at the age of 77.
Mr. Hoover, an assistant to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer during the "Red Scare", was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924. In 1935, the agency became the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI.
Under his direction, the Bureau set up an index card system of 450,000 files on every radical leader, organization & publication in the United States during the 1920s.
In the 1930s, the FBI established a fingerprint file, a crime laboratory & a training academy for FBI agents. The Bureau also targeted organized crime figures during the decade.
In 1956, Hoover set up a secret counterintelligence program to target communists and radical organizations operating in the US.
FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover
May 2, 1957
SENATOR JOE McCARTHY IS DEAD
The senator who has led the nation in a search for communists which he alleged were lurking among us, Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin), is dead.
Senator McCarthy, age 48, died of an illness brought on by alcoholism.
McCarthy won election to the US Senate after having defeated successful progressive Robert LaFollete in the Wisconsin Republican primary in 1946.
In 1950, McCarthy declared there were 200 known communists in the US State Department.
From that time on, the Wisconsin senator became more & more powerful.
By 1954, his attack on the US Army allowed the American people to see his personality & tactics "live" on television. He was soon discredited & censured by the senate.
Senator McCarthy will be buried in Wisconsin.
Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin)
May 2, 1937
LOU GEHRIG BENCHES HIMSELF
New York Yankee star, Lou Gehrig, after playing in a record 2,130 consecutive games, "benched" himself today for his recent poor play.
Gehrig joined the Yankees in 1923 but didn't enter the line-up until 1925. Once he did, he was not to miss a game for the next 13 years.
During that time, Gehrig, called "The Iron Horse", led the American League in home runs 3 times, in runs scored 4 times & in hitting once. He was AL MVP in both 1927 & 1936. The Yankees won the World Series 6 times during that span.*
*Gehrig would never play again. Dying from the disease that would bear his name, he was honored on July 4, 1939 at "Lou Gehrig Day" at Yankee Stadium.
He said to the crowd: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
Lou Gehrig died on June 2, 1941.
Lou Gehrig
"The Iron Horse"
